


bump in the road

by Harmonijay (PBCBYH6104)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - School, Angst, Enemies to Friends, Fluff, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-26 08:04:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12054765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PBCBYH6104/pseuds/Harmonijay
Summary: Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Childhood… acquaintances, I guess. Enter the first day of school and unsurprisingly, they’re already fighting for the back seat on the bus.





	1. chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> Good times, good times.

Once upon a time, there lived two little boys in one beautiful little neighbourhood.  One of them would grow up to become an avid collector of best-selling novels, pretty looking tickets from musicals, and empty yogurt containers.  The other would grow up to become a lover of the musical arts, living half his life with his head buried inside a drum and his body half inside the piano.  Somewhere from birth to the end, the two meet in the middle of their intersecting roads to write their continued stories together.

 

“Not today, mister.”  Eleven-year-old Baekhyun slammed his hands together in a threatening way, making sure the sound of his fist hitting against his palm was loud and clear.

 

“Uh, this is _my_ seat, why don’t you just like, sit with him?”  Chanyeol whipped out a sharp finger at the boy sitting across from him.  Do Kyungsoo looked up with the most confused look on his face before turning his head to look out the window, obviously not wanting to be a part of this.

 

Baekhyun alarmingly his head no.  “Nuh uh. No way in Azkaban am I sitting with Kyungsoo! He’d only tear my hair out.”

 

“I don’t care. This is my seat and I am not giving it up to a peasant like you,”  Chanyeol snapped and moved his backpack to the outer edge of his seat so Baekhyun couldn’t reach him from the aisle.

 

Beyond furious, Baekhyun picked up Chanyeol’s ugly Spider Man backpack and tossed it onto the ground.  The poor boy watched in half horror, half disbelief as his brand new bag soaked up the dirty snow water.

 

“That’s it! You’ve done it!”  Without a moment of hesitation, Chanyeol stood up and grabbed at Baekhyun’s hair all the while their feet kicked at his backpack, which was still hopelessly on the ground.

 

In retaliation, Baekhyun totally gripped Chanyeol’s collar and smeared some of the grime from the floor onto the pristine white shirt.  In minutes, they were having a catfight at the back of the bus and completely ignoring the bus driver’s complaints from the front.  While Baekhyun focused on the destruction of Chanyeol’s ‘momma’s boy’ appearance, Chanyeol worked on keeping his ridiculously fast hands away from his outfit.

 

Somewhere and somehow, Chanyeol had gotten a good hold of Baekhyun’s own backpack zipper and unzipped the biggest pocket.  Clean, white pages of lined paper and a brand new pencil bag joined the colourful pool on the floor alongside Chanyeol’s backpack.

 

The other kids on the bus who had been shouting “fight, fight!” suddenly hushed and it was just a silent desolate island.

 

“You, utter, jerk!”  Screaming, Baekhyun finally flipped and with both hands on Chanyeol’s chest, pushed hard until he fell into Kyungsoo’s seat and against Kyungsoo’s shoulder.  There was a sickening thud before Chanyeol’s eyes began to look very, very wet.

 

“What’s wrong with you?”  He yelled and Baekhyun rubbed the back of his neck.  He didn’t really mean to go all berserk, and now they’re both in soiled clothes and wild hairdo’s.

 

“What’s going on here?”  The bus driver inquired with a tired tone.  She eyed the two of them suspiciously and crossed her arms.

 

“He started it,”  Baekhyun said quietly, feeling just a tiny, itty, mini bit bad about making the brat cry.  He deserved it though, for destroying all his beautiful clean paper his mom bought from Japan.  It was so beautiful and now they can’t be used at all.

 

Sighing, she rubbed her temple tiredly.  “I don’t care who started it.  Both of you slowed me down so I’m making you guys sit together.  Don’t come to me about it, I’m not going back on my word.  Now shut up before I call your moms.”

 

“But I’m not sitting with-”

 

“No ‘but’s’.  Sit.  Together.”

 

And so Baekhyun reluctantly shoved himself into the window seat after picking up his precious paper from the ground.  His heart sobbed at the sight of the mud tainting his poor stationery and slid them back into his backpack with a pout.  He propped his head against the fogged up window and opted to stare at the snowy expanse for the rest of the bus ride.

 

Chanyeol slumped down on the edge of the bus seat and hugged his backpack close.  There had to be at least an entire Sahara desert as well as a Nile river between them which Baekhyun was grateful for.

 

Everything was fine until…

 

Sniff.

 

Sniff.

 

Sniff.

 

No way.  Chanyeol was never a crybaby.  Why did he have to go all damsel-in-distress for?

 

The sniffing didn’t stop, and it only nursed a horrible, horrible feeling growing inside Baekhyun’s chest. It gnawed at him and pushed him to do the unspeakable. It was a monster of a feeling, clingy and unavoidable.

 

Sniff.

 

Sni-

 

“Will you stop that?”  He groaned in Chanyeol’s direction. He watched him bury his head quickly into his backpack to hide his red and puffy face.

 

He felt just a dab of remorse. Just a dab.

 

Chanyeol lifted his head at the feeling of a hand tapping at his shoulder.  It wasn’t really a tap per se, more like an unfriendly punch that had him jumping out of his skin.  He looked up to see Baekhyun looking away from him with his hand outstretched towards him.

 

“Take it or leave it,” Baekhyun muttered.

 

There was a clean wad of tissue paper (in Rilakkuma packaging) lying in the center of his little hand.  Chanyeol stared at it in hesitation, debating whether to take it from his enemy or not.

 

Just then, Baekhyun whipped his head around to check if the giant beanpole had taken his President-level-of-honor gift but instead of smiling in triumph like he had expected to, he made eye contact with the very beanpole instead.  He was still looking at the tissue packet in his hand as if it was from another planet.

 

He scoffed.

 

“Wow, you’re a crybaby _and_ indecisive, how are you going to survive school?”  He mocked. Chanyeol seemed to shrink even more at his words.  Instinct tugged at Baekhyun’s humane heart.  “You know what? Take it.”  He shoved the package into Chanyeol's hands and retreated to his own personal bubble. He thought the entire stupid thing was gonna end there and then, but he was so,  _so_ , wrong.

 

"Um, not thanks, but take your pity project elsewhere." The mocking tone was evident and he didn't have to look twice to confirm that the taller boy was purposefully trying to push his buttons.

 

Baekhyun gritted his teeth and smiled through the red. 

 

_Oh, we'll see about that._

 


	2. [2]

The morning of the first day of school passed by relatively quickly.  By the second period, Baekhyun could already feel the whale in his stomach making a few mating calls.  He was beyond famished.

 

He blushed furiously when it growled long and loud during his teacher’s lecture on classroom etiquette and integrity.  The student body giggled collectively, and to that he pulled his shirt over his nose and winced in embarrassment.  Chanyeol was also laughing and Baekhyun wanted to melt into the floor right there.  No, no, no.  He should’ve eaten something this morning.  Whatever.  It’s happened.

 

“Any questions, concerns, comments, queries?  If not, I think we’re good to go here!”  The teacher singsonged her way to the back of the class while Baekhyun slammed his forehead on the table.  He groaned internally.

 

“Are you okay?”  His desk mate asked and he shook his head against the desk.

 

“I’m fine, really.  Thanks for asking,” he replied.  The boy in the other seat had a nice healthy tan, as if he had returned from a nice tropical cruise last week.  He also had the nicest set of elbows he had ever seen.

 

What?  It was the truth.  Those were some nice elbows.

 

At lunch, he was more excited than ever to meet up with his old elementary school crew.  Someone thought it was a good idea to split him up with his good friends and put him in with his absolute enemy.  So now, he could only meet his friends before school, during lunch, or after school.  

 

“Baekhyun! Over here!”

 

Jongdae was carrying his lunch bag, laughing as he pulled Baekhyun into a tight hug.  He smiled into his friend’s shoulder because it was just so comforting to be welcomed into one of Jongdae’s special hugs.  After a ridiculously long morning, a hug from his best friend is like bathing in soft gold.  

 

Besides, no one gave out hugs these days.  Everyone said it was cheesy and gross.

 

Bless Jongdae for sticking to the _true_ standards.

 

Sehun and Minseok were already sitting at the table and were waving them over.

 

“Heyyyy Minseok!  Sehunnie!  How was summer?”  He inquired as he set down his lunch.

 

“I went to Europe,”  Minseok said, stabbing at an apple.  He flashed his left wrist while he was at it.  “I got this watch from a distant cousin.  Cool, right?”

 

“I played video games…”  Sehun admitted.  Being the youngest of their ‘squad’, he was naturally quiet.  Baekhyun smiled.  It was nice having everyone back.

 

“Hey what about you, Baekhyun?”  Jongdae piped up.

 

Baekhyun mused, fork twirling the fried noodles in his bowl.  He hummed, “well, if you’re so curious, I read books at the library!  It was actually so fun.”

 

A hush fell over the group.

 

What?

 

“Why are you guys so silent?”

 

Minseok shrugged.  “We didn’t know you read books.”

 

“Of course I read books!  Who doesn’t?”

 

Someone laughed from behind him.  “Aw, our little shrimp here is a bookworm.”

 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes.  Without even having to look, he already knew who it was.  The obnoxious voice gave it away.

 

“You little,” he said through gritted teeth while turning around.  When he figured Chanyeol wasn’t gonna face him, he blew cold air torpedo style at his neck.  “Listen up!”

 

He saw red when Chanyeol started to laugh with his friends as if he didn’t exist.  In retaliation, he opted to poke the guy in the back.  He did a little “whoop! Whoop” cheer when Chanyeol actually fell off the chair.

 

“You know, the library is a wonderful place to be, you should try going sometime,” he scoffed.  The little bog wog rubbed his bum where he fell and flicked Baekhyun on the forehead, like no big deal, he just fli-

 

_He FLICKED MY FOREHEAD?! Oh it’s GAME ON._

 

“Listen up,” Chanyeol mocked. “I don’t do libraries, you utter _nerd_.”

 

And hey, no one could really stop him from pouring the rest of his apple sauce right over Chanyeol’s nicely groomed hair.

 

Chanyeol zero.  Baekhyun one.

 

*

 

He spent the rest of the day outside the office waiting for Chanyeol to finish his little talk with the principal.  It was dumb and stupid, really, because it was all his fault!  If Chin Yellow was trying to push his buttons maybe this all wouldn’t have happened.  Maybe he could’ve gone home on the bus and gotten some well-deserved caramel ice cream.  His sweet tooth was practically sobbing.

 

“-kay?  Just be nice to each other and don’t fight, alright?”  He heard the principal tell Chanyeol coaxingly, as if he wasn’t gonna listen if she didn’t.  He rolled his eyes in the  safety of his shut eyelids, enjoying the way his eyeball picked up tear juice from various corners of his eye socket.

 

The principal poked her head out from her office and propped her glasses back onto her nose. “Baekhyun?  I’d like to have a talk with you specifically.”

 

Baekhyun sits idly, not quite registering what the lady was even trying to say.  All he can focus on is how Chanyeol glanced towards him at the corners of his eyes and blew a fake raspberry.  

 

When he gets out of here he’ll be sure to get back… quietly.

 

“Baekhyun? Come in.”

 

Slowly, he shuffled into the room and licked his lips anticipatingly as she closed the doors.  The principal was a tall woman with fur coat hair.  It was like a fur coat because it reminded him of those fluffy winter coat linings his mom used to sport.

 

He blurred out the rest of the meeting because he’s pretty sure it was irrelevant.  Anyway, what mattered now was putting the murder plot in his head to work.

 

*

 

He ended up spilling his entire lunch on Chanyeol the next day.

 

The principal was beyond furious now.  She had called Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s parents in an attempt to get the boys to finally cooperate with each other.  Even with Chanyeol’s mom eagerly persuading Chanyeol to be nice and Baekhyun’s mom giving him the “no-internet” card, the two still went at it.

 

And this went on for the rest of the school year.

 

And the year after that.

 

Day after day, it was just Chanyeol and Baekhyun and their war table at lunch. The janitors have their eyes on them already and are there to pick up all the apples, sausages, rice, chicken bones, and Celebration chocolate cookie crumbs. Minseok and Jongdae, as well as Sehun, moved to sit inside their teacher’s room in fear of having noodles flying into their hair.

 

It started with food being spilled.

 

In grade eight it was ripping up each other’s homework, secretly slipping “cheat-sheet” papers into their pockets when they weren’t looking, tossing backpacks into classrooms across from the school, and sometimes taping shoes to the leg of the bus benches. Conveniently, they had each other’s exact same classes. It was awful.

 

In grade nine, Chanyeol had grown accustomed to jumping the shorter when he wasn’t looking, drawing dicks in his journal, sending links to not-safe-for-work-or-school sites in the middle of Baekhyun’s safe sex presentation.

 

Baekhyun, on the other hand, had more reserved tactics.  He went to Chanyeol’s new friends and spilled rumors about how Chanyeol was a furry, how Chanyeol actually has a thing for tall guys in dyed beards, and how Chanyeol actually doesn’t know how to spell “grammar”.  Some of these things were true, and that’s why Baekhyun had so much fun watching from the sides as Chanyeol furiously tried to deny anything and everything.  

 

“When will you guys cut this out?  Chanyeol’s a nice guy, you know.  He doesn’t deserve this,” Jongdae pondered, snacking on a mint oreo chip.

 

“It’s not even him!  It’s his standards… and attitude.  I’m only doing God’s work.” Baekhyun shook his head in disapproval and sighed.  He did wonder what life would be like if he was actually Chanyeol’s friend.

 

It made him spit out his rice.  On Chanyeol.

 

Yeah… that train of thought didn’t quite go the right way.

 

One time, they had the opportunity to work with each other for a school project. Multiple times, specifically.  How did their last names always end up together, one can only wonder.

 

“You’re responsible for the research.  I’ll make sure you don’t glue the shit on the wrong way.”  Shoving the laptop towards Chanyeol, Baekhyun shuffled as far as he could to the corner of his bedroom to work on the poster.

 

“Jeez stop being such a worry wart.  My good looks are not contagious.”  Chanyeol snarkily noted.  In response, Baekhyun threw a glue stick at his head.

 

“You have no good looks, honey.”

 

“Alright but Pinocchio, your nose is getting quite long.”

 

“Why I oughta-”

 

They ended up tearing up the poster paper.  Baekhyun had a major mental breakdown.  And by major, it was MAJOR.  He had his face buried in Chanyeol’s bed sheets and was flailing his legs around desperately.

 

Chanyeol ended up feeling guilty because it was after all, mainly his foot that ripped the paper (but also Baekhyun’s, so who really is at fault here-) so he promised to work on the thing only if he’d shut up about “failing grade nine because of one poster”.

 

“I’ll figure it out, jeez. I mean, we already have all our notes.”

 

“But still! You can’t be serious. We don’t even have another piece of paper to work with and the printer might explode if - ”

 

“Shut the fuck up Byun I made a promise. Don’t expect me to go all berserk like you, alright?”

 

“I AM NOT GOING BERSERK. ANYWAY, SINCE YOU PROMISED, if you’re not gonna stick to your word I’m seriously gonna make your life miserable.”

 

“Thanks for the token of gratitude, midget.”

 

It was ridiculous, really, because they were now both heading into grade ten.  

 

High school.  

 

It was seriously about to get serious.  They could no longer hit each other when they see each other in the hallways, they could no longer rip out the pages of their expensive, expensive textbooks.  Furthermore, they could no longer share seats on the bus just to blast music in each other’s earbuds… without consent, of course.

 

There’s no more Chanyeol and Baekhyun.  It’s just gonna be Baekhyun. And it’s gonna be just Chanyeol.

 

On the way home, Baekhyun wondered what it’s gonna be like next year.

 

He gets tired, though.  Thinking about the future is sucky.  Eh, whatever.

 

He’ll think about it when he gets there.

 

 

 

(Although he's not quite sure he wants to.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is dumb. But cherish the good times when you still can. You never really know what's there until it's gone. 
> 
> Sooooo join lots of clubs! Make lots of new friends! Ask the teacher for help when you aren't sure. Have study parties, be nice to your teachers, and work hard! Push forwards and strive for personal excellence.

**Author's Note:**

> always believe in byun baekhyun


End file.
